Despite Police Denial, Actors and Comedians are Targeted Under New Scottish Hate Crime Act
“Police Scotland is not instructing officers to target actors, comedians, or any other people or groups,” expressed Scottish police in response to allegations that Scotland’s newest Hate Crime and Public Order Act would threaten artists and performers when the law was promulgated on April 1. Andrew Tickell, a law lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, supported Scottish police, arguing “the act doesn’t criminalise telling a joke in any circumstances – it would only apply to behaviour the reasonable person would regard as threatening or abusive with the established intention of stirring up hatred against a group.”
Source: The Herald
However, according to materials obtained by The Herald, police are given specific instruction on dealing with public performances. Under a section of a briefing entitled “How might threatening and/or abusive material be communicated?” police guidance responds “giving, sending, showing or playing the material to another person, for example: through online streaming, by email, playing a video, by public performance or play,” as pictured below.
While police have officially stated they have yet to take action against writers like JK Rowling, police guidance still states “the perception of the victim or any other person is the defining factor in determining whether an incident is a hate incident or in recognising the malice element of a crime,” and “evidence of malice and ill-will is not required for a hate crime or hate incident to be recorded,” meaning actors, comedians and other creatives remain vulnerable targets of the recent law.
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